Santa Photos

We tried a new mall (Cary Town Center) for our annual Santa pictures.  Migi was in town to help out while Kyle was working in Arizona, so it was great having an extra set of hands to help with boy-wrangling and picture-taking.  Once again, the moms had to join in for the picture!
 

The mall train and carousel were our bribes for getting the boys to behave during the Santa pictures.
 

Grant was so excited to see Luke that he insisted on riding in his train car:
 

 

This little spinning seat on the carousel was a perfect fit for the big boys:
 

Lauren helped me keep Hayes from falling off of his horse (he was belted in, but the belt didn't seem to be doing all that much!).
 

Even though we didn't give out any quarters, these cars were still a hit:
 

Look, brothers working together!  It's a miracle!
 

Worn out and ready for Chick Fil A!!
 

Merry Christmas!
 

Reston Parade

Before heading home on Friday, we met up with some old friends and all their children to watch the impressive Reston parade.  All of the kids were given jingle bells, so the whole street was jingling with excitement and the kids ran around in the street until a few minutes before the parade started:
 

Nine (and a half!) children in five years, not too shabby!
 

No chance we were getting the boys to look away from the parade for a picture:
 

Hayes loved waving at everything and everyone that passed us:
 

Hayes' favorite float, "Big Bunny"...he talked about it for the rest of the day...
 

Second favorite was the series of balls:
 

He even had to lean out for a better look:
 

My favorite was Giant Frosty:
 

Proof (for Kyle) that Santa was indeed at the parade.  Grant proclaimed the lady sitting next to Santa to be Santa's mother.
 

DC Thanksgiving

After Thanksgiving lunch, we headed to DC to walk off some turkey while checking out the amazing monuments...
 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

After pictures and much cooking, Ceci had an adorable "Give Thanks" wreath craft for the kids to do:


Our beautiful & delicious lunchtime feast (Hayes was napping, but he joined in later):

 

Nana took this picture!
 

Thanksgiving Family Pictures

We did our family photo shoot Thanksgiving morning.  We had several shots that looked like this (everyone perfect except my little ones):

These next two shots are examples of how my kids only smiled when I gave them the camera remote control:

 

  

So I had to get crafty and do some photo editing, but we got a winner.  I give you
 The Official Richardson Family 2012 Thanksgiving Photo:
 

Cousin Bowling

The cousins enjoyed some family bowling:
 

Isabelle and Grant were great at helping Hayes get his ball to the ramp:
 

 

 

Fun with the hand dryer:
 

Playing with the camera

I got out the tripod and camera remote control to practice for our family picture.  The kids loved pressing the button to make the camera go off:
 

 

 

Mall Christmas Fun

While up in VA, we took the boys to Fair Oaks Mall.  The lead up to seeing Santa at this mall was sponsored by Ice Age, and no expense was spared.  The boys had a blast in this room filled with fake snow:
  

 

Afterwards they stopped to chat with Santa (but we didn't do any official Santa photos there since they weren't really dressed for it), and then they hung out next to Vicky's while they checked out their Ice Age notepads from Santa.

 

They enjoyed the winter wonderland view from the elevator: